Being a Christian in America

Blessed or Cursed??

This is a bit of a different topic but one that’s been on my mind. For the better part of the last six months, I’ve been working through a book titled Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God by Francis Frangipane, one of my most favorite Christian authors. I meet once a week with a dear friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, to discuss it.

This is a skinny little book that packs a big time wallop. I highly recommend it, as long as you don’t mind being confronted by, well, your self, and how that self relates to God. But that’s a topic for another day. Or lifetime…

This book has caused me to think very deeply about a number of things and areas of my life. But the main and most disconcerting thing it’s brought to my mind is the idea that American Christians are blessed because of the fact that we live in the most free and prosperous country in the entire world. An accident of birth, maybe? Or the grace of God, right?

For some reason, I’ve come away with a different take. Let me explain. To start with, Christians in other countries around the globe have a completely different reality. When a man or woman in Pakistan or Egypt or Iran chooses to follow Christ, i.e. become a Christian, their decision has definite life altering or life ending consequences. The plight of Christians in majority Muslim countries is no joke. Check out Open Doors World Watch List 2025 for unsettling examples of the price of faith regularly paid by Christians in the Middle East, Africa and other areas of the world.

By contrast, here in the good old US of A, if someone wanders into the concept that being a Christian means more than suffering through a boring sermon once a week and maybe hitting a Wednesday night “thing” offered by your local church, nothing much happens to you. Oh yeah, we’ve all read or listened to news stories about the unfortunate baker or florist targeted by the gay community over cakes and floral arrangements.

Sad that it took the Supreme Court to affirm that a person can’t be coerced to deny the tenets of their faith. These are stories for another day. For the average, run of the mill Christian in America, no one cares how you worship or what you believe, which is as it should be for every religion.

Maybe because of this, as American Christians, and really, I’m speaking for myself ONLY, it’s easy to become so entangled in and enamored with everyday life that I forget my purpose, which is to live for God. It’s much easier to watch three hours of TV every night than to commit to praying for whatever God might bring to my mind. The country, my family, friends, my life, the future, on and on. The possibilities are endless.

I mean, what could possibly be more important than the new season of – you fill in the blank?? In other words, we don’t generally pay a price for becoming a Christian. But what if we decided to actually follow Christ instead of the latest episode of a TV show or a conversation thread on X or a Facebook post?

And, by floating along with no so-called obstacles to our faith, are we the blessed ones? Or are we actually cursed because of how our life in the United States allows us to be lackadaisical; unserious about what it means to be a Christian? This has caused me to evaluate my approach to my faith because after all, my eternal future may depend on it.

Part of what has held me back in the past are these thoughts: What might God require of me if I choose to be willing to do whatever He asks? There are a lot of things I know for certain that I don’t want to do. I’m an introvert who’s been forced to deal with the public in disagreeable situations in all of my professional careers.

Because of bad experiences, I don’t want to belong to a church. I don’t want to speak out publicly. Evangelism is not my thing. See above – I’m an introvert. Over and over I’ve pondered about what my purpose is, or what I can do to, as they say, further the Kingdom. What I’ve eventually decided may seem like a cop out to some, especially extroverts. Hey, you guys knock yourselves out. But God didn’t make me like you!

Back to the question at hand. I believe God wants us to use our talents. One of the few I have is the ability to write. For me, it’s instinctive. I’m not an expert on verbs, adverbs, dangling participles and how to avoid them or when it’s proper to use a preposition. I just write. I know when it sounds good or needs to be changed.

Writing the ROWAN MILANI CHRONICLES series is my way of doing what I think God wants me to. No, these are not Christian books. I’m quite certain that a couple of church ladies will never speak to me again after starting to read the series. I write about a grieving, pissed off, arrogant man who takes matters into his own hands to avenge the terrorists who killed his fiancé.

Because I believe God pursues all people, I weave His pursuit of my protagonist into the stories. However, hard hearted people don’t always acknowledge God. I know this from personal experience. I’ve been hard hearted about a few things myself. And I am always, continually, amazed at how God manages to reach me and soften my heart. Suffice it to say, my protagonist Rowan Milani is particularly hard hearted, angry and determined to do things his way.

You’ll have to read the series to see his progress toward grace. It’s taking a while. Keep in mind, I write accurately in every way I possibly can. Language, language, language! Hard men in tough situations don’t speak politely. Just sayin… Rowan and his cohorts speak plainly. If that’s a problem for you, I have no solution.

The only other talent I have is loving to listen to people and possessing an open, non-judgmental heart. I’ve always been able to see other peoples’ perspectives and I love hearing their life stories. My eternally patient hubby Ernie and I have wonderful friends from all walks of life. We love each and every one of them. Love to share their lives; their triumphs and their sorrows. We hang in there with people. We do our best to well and truly “be there” for them with more than lip service to that adage.

I’ve never felt the need to judge and find people wanting. I guess because that’s been done to me one too many times. One of my favorite things to say is that I just hate people. In reality, what I hate is deliberate ignorance, snap judgments and closed minds.

Well this has been a rambling post. Take from it what you will. Imma have another pour of Jack Daniel’s. Or maybe a glass of wine. Approve or disapprove. Trust me, I don’t care. For my whole life I’ve always said, I’ll take my chances with the living God. His approval or disapproval is all that matters to me.